Heartbreaker: A Memoir

A fast-paced, tender-hearted rock 'n' roll memoir for the ages, Mike Campbell's Heartbreaker is part rags-to-riches story and part raucous, seat-of-the-pants adventure, recounting Campbell's life and times as lead guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Outside of his extensive career, not much is known about Mike. We of course know and love him for his time with the Heartbreakers and his solo career, which includes co-writing Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, Runnin Down A Dream and many more with Petty, co-writing The Boys of Summer with Don Henley, co-writing, recording and touring with Bob Dylan, touring with Fleetwood Mac after Petty's tragic death, and eventually, forming his own band, The Dirty Knobs. But along with his abounding success, Mike experienced his share of hardship, including bouts with near homelessness, bankruptcy, betrayal, and more. Skirting close to poverty in 1960s Cold War-era Jacksonville, FL, drifting through high school as an aimless loner, Mike's trajectory was far from a given until one morning, his single mother surprised him with a beat-up Harmony guitar. From there, he mastered it, constantly itching to take his playing to the next level. A few years later, he's tapped to play guitar for a band named Mudcrutch, led by a twenty-year-old, Tom Petty. Instantly, Tom declared Mike his guitarist for life, and they remained bandmates, songwriting collaborators, and best friends up until Tom's tragic death in 2017. 

HEARTBREAKER (written in cooperation with Ari Sudoval) will roll back the veil, exploring one of the greatest American bands of all time from the perspective of its lead guitar player Mike Campbell, one of the all- time greats in his own right. We'll follow the rags to riches story of the unassuming Northern Florida boy who ended up co-writing some of the most iconic rock songs of the past 40 years while realizing his dream of playing and collaborating with his heroes.

Part of the power of [this] book comes in offering a rare glimpse into the delicate dynamics that underpin any great band supporting a superstar ― Independent

This deeply moving memoir is an exhaustive look at the musician's life in rock 'n' roll . . . [Campbell's] eye for detail and unsparing introspection makes for lovely, wise lyrical prose ― Record Collector

An exceptionally well-written and highly readable book . . . one of the best music autobiographies I have ever read - and I've read dozens - if not the best of the lot ― Afterword

Heartbreaker immediately becomes an indispensable history of Campbell's band. More important, it is a stirring and tender portrait of a life realised through rock 'n' roll ― MOJO